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THE WILL TO WIN 



THE WILL TO WIN 

A CALL TO AMERICAN 
BOYS AND GIRLS 



BY 



E. BOYD BARRETT, SJ. 

M.A. (N.U.I.), D.Ph. (Louvain) 




NEW YORK 

P. J. KENEDY & SONS 
1917 






"3 



^^i/^ 



COPYRIGHT, 1917 
Y P. J. KENEDY & SONS 



JUL 31 (9i8 



©GU499970 



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\ 

PREFACE 

THIS booklet was written with the object of 
putting in a simple and brief form the sub- 
stance of the author^ s larger book " Strength of 
Will." 1 The author addresses himself directly 
to the Catholic Boys of America, but he trusts 
Catholic Girls will understand that, as they bear 
equal responsibility for the future of their Faith 
and Fatherland, the booklet is meant equally 
for them. The author feels that he cannot do 
justice to his subject in so short a booklet, and 
recommends those Boys or Girls who become 
interested in it, to read his larger book. 

1 Published by P. J. Kenedy & Sons, H Barclay St. New York 



CONTENTS 

SECTION PAGE 

Introduction ix 

I. The Will 1 

II. The Importance of Strength of 

Will 12 

III. The Need of Will-Training .... 21 

IV. Resolutions 28 

V. A Method of Will -Training ... 39 

VI. Practical Reflections 51 

VII. The Will and Habit . 56 

VIII. The Will to Win 62 

Appendix 70 



INTRODUCTION 

HAVE written this booklet for you — 
and by you I mean American Catholic 
Boys — in order to tell you what Will- 
power means, and to show you how im- 
portant and necessary it' is, and how it may 
be acquired. I have tried to show you also, 
that you cannot become good and strong 
men, that is, men of character, unless you 
have Will-power, and further that you will 
be of little or no use to your country if you 
are weak-willed e It has been well said that 
"the only way to be a patriotic American 
is to do your best to become a perfect man," 
and a perfect man you will not be unless 
your Will is strong. 

In these days you are familiar with the 
cry "Your country needs you" — and no 
doubt you have reflected on what the needs 
of your country are, and on what the fu- 
ture may have in store for her. The years 
hastening toward you, in which you will 
have to play your part, will be critical years 
in your country's history. Is America to 



X INTRODUCTION 

fulfil her high destiny? Is she to become 
the great Christian, the great Catholic na- 
tion of the future? The home of true liberty, 
true progress, true civilization? Is she to 
avail herself of her splendid power and in- 
fluence and spread the light of truth? Is 
she to win her way by Justice and Virtue 
till "the nations gather round her?" All 
that depends upon you! If you Catholic 
Boys prefer to be weaklings and pleasure- 
seekers, if you put mammon before God, if 
you allow your love of Truth and Honor 
to die within you, then America has a black 
and shameful future before her. It is for 
you then to "choose the America that you 
think is best, and to fashion yourselves in 
her likeness. If you wish to see America 
become a perfect country, a Kingdom of 
God, do you yourself become a perfect in- 
dividual, a Kingdom of God. The perfect 
country can only be established by individ- 
ual men and women who are striving after 
perfection." But you purpose, I know, to 
play your part well and bravely in the years 
to come. Then you must now set about 
preparing for your part. You must learn 
to live up to a high ideal. You must per- 
fect your character and furnish your mind. 



INTRODUCTION xi 

You will perfect your character only if you 
strengthen your Will. And you will fur- 
nish your mind only if you avail yourself 
of every opportunity of education. 

I said just now "You must learn to live 
up to a high ideal." But what exactly does 
that mean.f^ What is an "ideal" in this sense. ^^ 
As you know, a sculptor does not set about 
carving his marble block without having a 
very clear and definite image in his mind of 
the figure he purposes to create. He means 
to reproduce in marble, as perfectly as he 
can, the image he has formed in his mind. 
He intends, so to speak, to translate his idea 
into marble. Now, a man with an *' ideal" 
sets himself a task similar to that of the 
sculptor. He has an image in his mind of 
the kind of man he means to be. And he 
tries to conform his acts and conduct to 
that image, so that he may make himself 
like to it. He translates that image into 
his own life, so that he comes to represent 
it as perfectly as possible. 

Now, we should all have ideals and try 
to conform our lives to them. But, of course, 
they should be noble ideals. They should 
be in harmony with thoroughly good prin- 
ciples. They should be clear and definite 



xii INTRODUCTION 

and practical — that is, common-sense, and 
quite realizable. A day-dream in which you 
picture yourself merely as famous and illus- 
trious is not an ideal — it is a foolish yearn- 
ing after notoriety. 

In your ideal, picture yourself as a sincere 
and earnest Catholic, devoted to your coun- 
try's welfare, kindly and chivalrous towards 
all, "one who does not mind whose bundle 
he carries providing he relieves some ach- 
ing arm." Picture yourself as the kind of 
man you would be justly proud to be — 
the kind of man those who truly love you 
would like you to be. If, as may well hap- 
pen, you are to be a carpenter, a shop-keeper, 
or a doctor, remember you must set your- 
self to be a stanch Catholic and a true 
American in your career as carpenter, shop- 
keeper, or doctor. Aim at being a faithful 
member of the parish Sodality, of the Tem- 
perance Society, and of the St. Vincent de 
Paul or other charitable society. Aim too, 
at knowing the literature and history of 
America. Study well your country and 
your fellow-countrymen, not critically nor 
captiously, but affectionately. Learn to love 
all that is best in them. God has lavished 
his gifts, his most splendid works of nature 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

on America. Your rivers, forests, hills, and 
plains surpass those of other countries. Be 
proud of America as of your mother. Study 
her social and economic problems, and play 
a manly part in the nation's fight for the 
amelioration of the poor. In your profes- 
sion or business be honest, painstaking, pro- 
gressive, and energetic. Take advantage of 
the best and most scientific methods for 
developing your enterprises. In fine, let your 
ideal be practical as well as noble; definite 
as well as beautiful. 

You see now what is meant by an ideal 
in life. It is the concrete embodiment of 
high principles — it is an image which ex- 
presses for us what our conduct should be. 
Or, to put it more plainly, our ideal should 
be such that, were we to describe it to one 
who questioned us on our views of life and 
duty, such a one would clearly see we held 
high principles. 

However, let us now recall to mind that it 
is one thing to have a high ideal, and quite 
another thing to live up to it. We often 
see quite plainly what we should do, what 
our ideal calls for from us, but alas! we neg- 
lect to act as we ought. It is not enough 
then to have an ideal — it is also necessary 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

to have the power of conforming our lives 
to that ideal. That power is possessed by 
men of character — men whose lives are 
dominated by high principles, by ideals. This 
power of dominating our lives, which is 
the basis of character, is nothing else than 
Strength of Will, Without Will-power our 
Ideals are vain and futile dreams. With- 
out Will-power we cannot be true to our 
Ideals, we cannot rule our conduct in con- 
formity with them, we cannot become the 
men we purpose to be. The Will alone, 
assisted and inspired by God's grace, enables 
us to direct the course of our lives, to shape 
our destiny, to fashion and mold our con- 
duct according to principles we cherish, so 
that our lives may be bright lights to shine 
before fellow-men. 

For a moment I suppose that you have 
fashioned for yourself your ideal, the clear 
and definite image of what you would be 
proud to be, of what Faith and Fatherland 
call for from you. But now, turn your 
eyes upon yourself as you are at the present 
moment! How does your character stand .^ 
Is your Will strong? Have you self-con- 
trol .^^ Have you the power to make efforts, 
energetic efforts, at the call of duty.'^ Can 



INTRODUCTION xv 

you persevere in making such efforts? Are 
you master of yourself? Can you control 
your impulses and inclinations? Do you 
yield easily to the attractions of pleasure? 
Have you habits of which you are ashamed, 
which you know are wrong? Are you weak 
and cowardly at times, and afraid of what 
others may say? Do you shrink from a 
little physical pain? Ask yourself these 
questions frankly, and you will know the 
answer to the question, "Is your Will 
strong?" 

And, if you feel forced to confess that 
your Will is weak, how are you going to live 
up to your Ideal? How are you going to 
dominate your life and conduct and make 
yourself a living representation of your Ideal? 
Is it not necessary for you to acquire more 
Will-power so as to face the long and trying 
struggle of life that lies before you? 

Yes! you need more Strength of Will than 
you possess at present. You need to per- 
fect your Will, and to make it a powerful 
instrument. You need to learn how to use 
your Will aright, how to keep it in good trim, 
and in a high state of efficiency. It is your 
best and greatest possession, the most won- 
derful thing you have. It is worth know- 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

ing well, using well, and perfecting. It is 
worth studying and training. It will repay 
you better than you will be repaid by train- 
ing your mind, or training your memory, 
or training your hand to paint or to carve 
or to strike music from a key -board. 

And so to sum up what I have hitherto 
said : Christ, your King, needs you — to be 
a stanch Catholic; America, your country, 
needs you — to be a true patriot; you can- 
not obey these calls unless you perfect and 
develop your Will. Without a strong Will 
you lack that bold and confident manliness 
which inspires men to answer, as I have 
known a young Irish soldier to answer, such 
questions as these: "Are you Irish?" "Yes! 
thank God." "Are you a Catholic?" 
"Rather!" Strength of Will, like a faithful 
friend, will come to your help in every diffi- 
culty. It will be with you through life's 
long battle until the end. And when the 
end comes, you will be able to say truly, in 
every sense, 

"Gladly I lived, and gladly I die. 
And I lay me down with a WilW 



ne Will to TVin 

A CALL TO CATHOLIC BOYS AND GIRLS 



The Will to Win 

A CALL TO CATHOLIC BOYS AND GIRLS 

SECTION I 
THE WILL 

N order to carry out some external task 
we require, as you know, light to see 
what we are doing, and strength to ac- 
complish the work. Similarly for our inner, 
spiritual tasks we require light and strength. 
Now light is supplied to us by our Intellect, 
for it sees, knows, understands, and strength 
is given us by our Will, for it puts forth 
effort, strives, and achieves. Without Will, 
the Intellect would be a vain and useless 
power of seeing visions and dreams; with- 
out Intellect, the Will would be a blind force 
struggling in darkness, beating the air. Both 
Intellect and Will are therefore necessary, 
but of the two powers the Will is supreme, 
at least in practical matters, for while it can 
refuse to follow the guidance of the Intel- 
lect, the Intellect cannot refuse to show the 
way when th^ Will commands. 

3 



4 THE WILL TO WIN 

The Will then is the source of our activ- 
ity, the source of energy and effort. It com- 
mands, controls, and calls into operation 
all our faculties. It directs the intellect 
to think, the memory to store up knowledge, 
and the arms to labor. It is by natural 
right the king and ruler of our soul and body. 
It can tyrannize over our other faculties, 
and force the hands to toil on, though they 
are tired, and the mind to study on in spite 
of weariness. It can make us dash to the 
ground a cup of water even though we be 
dying of thirst, and it can, if it be as strong 
as it should be, reject the most alluring pleas- 
ures, or the most well-deserved repose. 

When the Intellect points out some course 
of duty, however hard, the Will can brace 
itself to the task of fulfilling it. And so 
it is we hear wonderful stories of long and 
painful labors undertaken and carried out 
in spite of diflSculty and danger — voyages 
to unknown lands or to Arctic regions — or 
tales of scrupulous and heroic honesty. Such 
a tale is that of a poor farmer who lost all 
he had and incurred a debt of two thousand 
dollars. This debt he set himself to pay 
ofiF. He had a large family to support, and, 
as he could earn only fifteen dollars a week. 



THE WILL 5 

his savings were very small. Still he was 
not discouraged, but for thirty years he con- 
tinued to save up, and at last paid off his 
debt in full. 

The work that the Will has to do is harder 
and more varied than that of any other 
faculty. It is called on to work at every 
minute of the day. In the morning, it is 
the Will which forces us to rise from bed, in 
spite of our inclination to sleep on. At 
night it is the Will which makes us kneel 
down, in spite of fatigue, to say our prayers. 
All day long the Will is at work forcing us 
to extend energy, to make efforts, to refuse 
pleasures, to resist temptations, to suppress 
our feelings. It is our supremely necessary 
power, for without it we should be mere 
animals, mere creatures of impulse and pas- 
sion. With it we can reach great heights 
of nobility, and accomplish deeds of won- 
drous sublimity. We need but turn over 
pages that tell of Christian martyrs to find 
many examples — such, for instance, as that 
of Magdalen, the Japanese martyr, who, 
as she was being burned to death, gathered 
up in her hands the red-hot coals and crowned 
her brow with them, as though they were 
roses. And this act, beyond question, was 



6 THE WILL TO WIN 

a human act, an act of her Will, inspired and 
aided by God's grace. 

So far I have described the Will as a great 
and wonderful power, but you will ask of 
course, "Has every one such a Will as you 
describe, and, if so, why is not every one able 
to do great things?" Well, every one has 
a Will, and every one has a certain amount 
of Will-power, hut every one has not a strong 
Will, and great deeds remain comparatively 
rare ^precisely because men's Wills remain 
weak. We possess, all of us, quite suffi- 
cient Will-power to set ourselves with suc- 
cess to the training and perfecting of our 
Wills. Just as we possess sufficient Will- 
power to train our bodies, and train our 
minds, so we possess sufficient Will-power 
to train our Wills. And when we do set 
ourselves to train our Wills, they soon be- 
come, as I hope to show later on, strong and 
powerful. 

It is well, even here, to remember that 
the tasks of ordinary life, and in particular 
religious duties, tend to train and develop 
the Will. The constant discipline of school- 
life, the laws and rules to be observed at 
games, the unwritten code of gentlemanly 
conduct towards friends and strangers — all 



THE WILL 7 

this helps the Will to acquire power of 
control. Then the duties, sacrifices, pen- 
ances that our religion imposes on us, assist 
us to self-mastery. We are taught to re- 
strain our evil inclinations, and to make 
efforts to imitate those who are good. We 
are taught, too, to persevere in doing good 
in spite of difficulties and we are shown 
how to make and keep resolutions. God's 
grace above all, won by prayer and the 
Sacraments, inspires and strengthens the Will 
and aids it to do its work well. Hence it is 
that Will-training, so to say, should be some- 
thing natural to Catholics. They have al- 
ready learned the essentials of the method 
— and their religion tends to make them 
Will-heroes. Take, as an example, the story 
of a little lad, dying in great pain, but not 
allowing himself to utter a sob or a moan. 
The kindly doctor who was seated by his 
bedside asked him why he wasn't crying, 
and told him to cry as it would do him good 
and give him a little relief. But the brave 
little fellow had other ideas. "Ah, no!" he 
said, "I won't cry. Our Lord didn't cry on 
the Cross." 

While, however. Religion and the discipline 
of ordinary life tend to train the Will, it is 



8 THE WILL TO WIN 

our duty to use other and more direct means. 
The Will is a natural faculty, and as such, 
like the intellect or memory, it is to be de- 
veloped and perfected by direct natural 
means. The fact that prayer and medita- 
tion tend to improve and train the intellect 
does not justify men in neglecting other 
means of training it. So too, the fact that a 
virtuous life tends to train the Will is not a 
justification for omitting direct Will-training. 
We must then devote ourselves to devel- 
oping and perfecting our wills by natural 
methods, while at the same time we should 
pray for Strength of Will, and use super- 
natural means, as though all depended on 
them. 

It is a certain and consoling fact that the 
Will can always be strengthened and im- 
proved. This has been held and taught by 
saints, ascetics, and by all sane psycholo- 
gists. No matter how weak the Will may be, 
no matter how inert and lifeless it may have 
become through want of exercise, it can al- 
ways be improved. Indeed, in this respect, 
the Will is the most wonderful of our facul- 
ties. With due training it grows strong, 
and becomes very powerful. Its growth in 
power is swifter than that of other faculties. 



THE WILL 9 

and more certain. There is then no reason 
for despair or discouragement even if the 
Will be extremely weak. Of course im- 
provement can only be secured at the price 
of effort, but if the price is paid the improve- 
ment will be obtained. 

There are various maladies and faults of 
Will which impair its efficiency. The two 
chief maladies are hesitation and impetuos- 
ity. In each case the symptoms are evi- 
dent. They are contrary in character. If, 
before a decision or choice, the Will is drawn 
this way and that in painful oscillation, if 
a feeling of helplessness, worry, inability to 
choose is experienced, while opposing mo- 
tives rapidly and interminably influence the 
Will now to take one side, and now to take 
the other, and if a sense of uncertainty and 
depression takes possession of you, you 
will recognize the presence of the first of these 
maladies, hesitation. This hesitancy or in- 
decision becomes habitual and destroys your 
power of choosing or deciding on reasonable 
grounds. Almost invariably it forces you 
to make a haphazard, blind choice in order 
to escape from your state of perplexity. 
The symptoms of impetuosity are briefly 
these — you find you make your choices. 



10 THE WILL TO WIN 

even in important matters, almost before 
you are conscious of it. You are swept 
away at once by the first motive that pres- 
ents itself vividly before your mind. You 
are carried away by a restless impulse to act 
at once. You do not deliberate calmly as you 
should. You do not weigh and compare 
motives in a reasonable, tranquil man- 
ner. You choose or decide in a "devil- 
may-care" way. You place no check on 
your impulse to act, but allow your feelings 
and sentiments to provoke your Will to 
move, before the light of intellect is thrown 
on the road. 

Opposed alike to hesitation and impetuos- 
ity, we have the good quality of decisiveness. 
A decisive Will, unlike a hesitating Will, 
chooses or resolves without undue and futile 
deliberations or oscillations. Unlike an im- 
petuous Will it refuses to act unless on clear 
grounds, and for solid reasons. A decisive 
Will can of course choose or resolve in a 
very short time where there is question of 
a principle, for it has already deliberated 
upon this matter, and determined to hold 
firmly to the principle at all costs and at all 
times. It acts then with iron strength and 
without a moment's delay. A resolute boy 



THE WILL 11 

snaps out a "NoT' to temptation like the 
crash of a hammer on an anvil. 

Before concluding this section on the Will 
there is a point to which it may be well to 
call your attention. A strong-willed man is 
not necessarily a good man. Many men, whose 
lives were ill-spent, and who sought to do evil, 
had strong Wills. The principles which domi- 
nated their lives were false and bad principles. 
But in this booklet written for you, American 
boys, I take it for granted that you are pro- 
tected from that possibility, because I am 
sure that the principles which guide your lives, 
which you have learned at school and from 
your parents, are sound and good principles. 
You know what justice and truth mean, 
you know that at all times, and in all places, 
"what is right is right, and what is wrong 
is wrong," and that there the matter ends. 
And so, assuming that your ideal is good and 
true, it follows that for you Strength of 
Will means virtue. The stronger your Will 
is, the better you will be. The stronger 
your Will is, the more good you will achieve, 
and the truer you will be to Faith and 
Country. 



SECTION II 

TEE IMPORTANCE OF STRENGTH 
OF WILL 

N this Section, in order to bring more 
concretely before your mind the Impor- 
tance of Strength of Will, I make two 
assumptions. First, I assume, as I have a 
right to do, for it is admitted by all, that 
"man's life on earth is a warfare." Secondly 
I assume that you have, in accordance with 
your ideal, chosen your side in that warfare, 
the side of duty and of justice. 

Life then is a war, a long and bitter strug- 
gle, already begun for you. It is a battle 
against clever, bitter, and unrelenting ene- 
mies, enemies without and enemies within. 
The fighting never ceases — at no place or 
time in life is there a moment's truce. On 
occasion it may seem that truce has been 
declared, and that you are left unmolested, 
but this appearance of peace is deceptive. 
It is only a wile of your enemy. The strug- 
gle all through is a life or death struggle 
— it is not a matter about which you 

12 



IMPORTANCE OF STRENGTH 13 

may trifle — it is too real, too serious, too 
momentous. 

Since life is a warfare, since it is a battle 
that must be won, a battle of terrible inten- 
sity, it behooves you to prepare for it. You 
must be ready, trained, fully armed, and 
well prepared. You must be foreseeing. 
You must be efficient in every respect. Un- 
readiness, unpreparedness means defeat. You 
must arm yourself with the best possible 
instrument, you must learn its use thor- 
oughly, and keep it in the best fighting trim. 
If you do not avail yourself of the best 
weapon, you will be unable to conquer. 
If you do not know how to use this weapon, 
or if you suffer it to get out of order, or if 
you put it aside in disdain, you will likewise 
be overcome. Now, as you will guess, the 
best instrument for winning life's battle is 
the Will, and no doubt you will agree that 
you must perfect it, and perfect yourself in 
its use. Surely then a Strong Will is of the 
greatest importance. 

It may seem strange to you that life should 
be described as a long battle — and a fierce 
battle. But when you reflect on it, you will 
see that there is no exaggeration in all this. 
Between right and wrong there is eternal 



14 THE WILL TO WIN 

enmity; between the angels of light and the 
angels of darkness, between duty and treach- 
ery, between justice and injustice, between 
truth and falsehood, the fight will rage to 
the end of the world — "the kingdom of 
heaven suffereth violence and the violent 
only will bear it away." But even if life 
be regarded from other points of view than 
that of good and evil, you will also see what 
a warfare it is. Can knowledge and wis- 
dom be won without a long struggle .^^ Can 
progress in art be won without much effort? 
Can success in business or in the learned 
professions be achieved without years of 
thought and labor .^ Must not man's brow 
be bathed many times in sweat before he 
gains even the natural fruits of natural 
toil? 

In every walk of life we find that we must 
fight a bitter fight in order to win — in things 
spiritual as well as in things temporal. Even 
for material success Strength of Will is nec- 
essary. Our portion here below is work 
and effort — and work and effort demand 
Strength of Will. Above all, if life is to 
be bright and happy, if we are to face diffi- 
culties and failure with courage and light- 
heartedness, if we are to lend a hand to help 



IMPORTANCE OF STRENGTH 15 

others and to do so generously, we need to 
have Strong Wills. 

In earlier sections I pointed out that we 
cannot fulfil our two supreme duties to God 
and to our country unless we perfect our 
characters, and I quoted the saying, well 
worth remembering, "The only way to be a 
patriotic American is to do your best to 
become a perfect man." It may now be 
well to consider more in detail the need of 
perfecting our characters for our own sakes. 
This need will perhaps best be seen by means 
of a three-fold classification — showing three 
different ways in which duties are faced, or 
faults corrected. 

The first class then is that of boys who 
realize that they have some serious faults 
and bad habits, and who see that there are 
certain things which they ought to do, but 
which they don't do. They are anxious 
to get rid of their failings. They promise 
themselves to correct them, but as it hap- 
pens they never make any serious effort to 
do so, and their faults and evil habits remain 
and grow stronger. 

The second class of boys have likewise 
faults to correct and neglected duties to 
fulfil. They desire very much to improve. 



16 THE WILL TO WIN 

They make some efforts — but their efforts 
are insufficient and their faults remain. 
They are only half-hearted and half-serious 
in their endeavors and of course they 
fail. They fail as completely as the first 
class. They too are weak-willed. 

The third class of boys have also faults 
and bad habits. They see clearly, as in- 
deed the others see, that if they are to im- 
prove they must make strong efforts. They 
make really strong efforts and they succeed. 
They mend their ways effectively. These 
boys are strong-willed. 

Now this classification, though it seems 
dry and formal, is very true to nature. If 
you think a little of your own manners of 
facing duties or of getting rid of faults, you 
will, I think, be able to find to which class 
you belong. If you belong to the second class, 
while you show signs of good will in mak- 
ing some efforts, still you are likely, very 
likely, to slip back into the first class and 
give up making any efforts at all. 

It may be well now to consider a little 
what will happen later on — what kind of 
man you are likely to become or rather are 
certain to become if you remain in the first 
or in the third class. And I think we may 



IMPORTANCE OF STRENGTH 17 

assume that when you are a man you will 
be in one of the two extreme classes — that 
of the weak-willed, or that of the strong- 
willed. Let us consider, first of all, the future 
that lies before weak-willed men. 

Are weak-willed men likely to be happy .^^ 
Are they likely to succeed in life, or to do 
good.^ Have they much hope of coming 
out victors in life's long war.^^ Is it possi- 
ble for them to lead honorable useful lives? 
I think we must answer "No!" to each of 
these questions. A weak-willed man shirks 
most of his duties. He descends very soon 
to falsehood and deceit. He indulges him- 
self on almost every occasion, and gives 
way to temptation. He does not try to 
restrain his passions — he becomes intem- 
perate and sensual. He cares little for the 
interests of his Faith or of his country. And 
he often betrays his friends. He is so sel- 
fish that he is ready to betray any cause, 
however noble, for personal ends. There is 
no sense of honor in him. His example is 
evil — or at least he is an object of contempt. 
He enjoys no peace of soul, for he carries a 
heavy burden on his conscience. He is a 
coward at heart, and fears the opinions of 
his fellow-men. He knows he is a failure 



18 THE WILL TO WIN 

— and he is pointed at as such. He knows 
that he is utterly defeated in Hfe's battle, 
and that he has lived the life of a fool. 

I have of course painted this picture in 
strong colors, and it is perhaps somewhat 
overdone. Still we have not to search far 
in our own experience of life before we find 
examples of men who have given way to 
passion and quickly gone under, even though 
perhaps they retained to the end some re- 
deeming qualities. 

Let us consider now the life of a good man 
of Strong Will. Is his life likely to be happy .'^ 
Is he likely to win true success and to do 
good.f^ Will he conquer in the battle of life? 
Will his life be useful and honorable .^^ Now 
I think we must answer "Yes" to each of 
these questions! A strong-willed man faces 
his duties without shirking. He performs 
them well and fully. He is not afraid to be 
honest and truthful. He does not give way 
to his passions. He checks and controls 
them. He is not a pleasure-seeker, he avoids 
self-indulgence. He is temperate, chaste, 
and self -con trolled. He is faithful to his 
friends, and keeps his promises. He sacri- 
fices himself for his Faith and his country. 
He is tenacious and persevering in carrying 



IMPORTANCE OF STRENGTH 19 

out his resolutions. If he has some hard 
or painful duty to perform, he faces it calmly 

— he does not square his jaws, clench his 
teeth and hands, and furrow his brow with 
a diabolical frown like moving picture heroes. 
He knows the Will is not helped by grimaces. 
But he goes straight towards his object, 
even though the road be rough, quietly, res- 
olutely, and cheerfully. He knows his own 
power. He is confident and self-reliant. He 
is conscious of his influence over other men 

— for Strength of Will gives a certain master- 
fulness. But for all that, he does not bully 
or override others, he respects others' rights 
and feelings, and a quiet reasonableness char- 
acterizes his conduct. His mind is at peace 
for he is conscious that he does his duty. 
He plays his part fearlessly and fights on to 
the end, iron-willed in his determination to 
win the battle of life and gain the victor's 
crown. 

Men of this strong-willed type are by no 
means rare. They are to be found in every 
town and village. Such are those men who 
do their duty to the end, in the face of su- 
preme sacrifice. "Tell my parents," said 
a young French soldier dying before Ver- 
dun, "that I die happy. I have never failed 



9,0 THE WILL TO WIN 

to do my duty." "I have," wrote a young 
Irish patriot to a friend, on the eve of his 
execution, "I have, thank God, no vain 
regrets. Whatever I have done, I have done 
as a soldier of Ireland in what I believed to 
be my country's best interests." To such 
men, of resolute Will, death presents no 
great terror. They freely choose to live up 
to their ideals and they have the strength 
to do so. 

To sum up this section. We have seen 
that life means warfare, and that it is a 
matter of supreme importance for us to arm 
ourselves with the best possible weapon, 
namely an efficient and strong Will. We 
have considered the pitiful results that fol- 
low from weakness of Will in the life of the 
individual, and the happy results that fol- 
low from Strength of Will. Granted these 
facts, it is for us to decide whether or not 
it is important for us to have Strong Wills. 



SECTION III 
TEE NEED OF WILL-TRAINING 

N the last section we considered the im- 
portance of having a Strong Will. Now 
we must decide whether or not it is 
necessary for us to undergo specific Will- 
training in order to acquire Strength of Will. 

As you know your faculty of Willing is a 
natural faculty — just as natural as your 
faculty of running, jumping, playing football, 
playing the piano, painting, remembering, 
imagining, or thinking out mathematical 
problems. All these natural powers or 
faculties require to be exercised and trained 
before they become efficient. So also your 
power of willing must be exercised and 
trained before it becomes efficient. You 
would regard it as very foolish to compete 
in a running race or in a jumping competi- 
tion without practise and training. You 
regard it as quite reasonable to practise 
kicking and passing, day after day, week 
after week, in order to become good and 
efficient at football. In like manner music, 

21 



22 THE WILL TO WIN 

painting, memorizing, solving problems re- 
quire long periods of exercise and training 
before much progress is made and before 
efficiency is attained. So also in the matter 
of Willing. The Will too needs much exer- 
cise and training, and unless it gets this 
exercise and training it remains weak and 
inefficient. 

You will observe that faculties are trained 
in very different ways. You train for jump- 
ing in one way and you train for music in 
another. The way to train for football is 
not the way to train for mathematics. So 
also the way to train for Willing is not the 
way to train for painting. The Will needs 
its own specific training. 

It is true of course that some men need 
Will-training less than others — just as some 
can compete successfully in a running race 
after less training than others. But this 
only means that in some the faculty of will- 
ing or of running is stronger and naturally 
more perfect than in others. Normally all 
require Will-training and all can be improved 
by it. 

In these comparisons of other faculties 
with the Will, there is one important dif- 
ference to be noted and remembered. For 



NEED OF WILL-TRAINING 23 

no man is it absolutely necessary to train 
his faculty of running or painting or play- 
ing music or solving mathematical prob- 
lems. Men can go through life without ever 
having to run a race or play a piece of music 
or paint or solve a mathematical problem. 
But as regards the faculty of Willing this 
is not so. All men must face Will-contests 
in life. All men are tried, and tempted, 
and confronted with difficult duties. For 
all men a strong Will is necessary, and on 
all men it is incumbent in some way or other 
to train their Wills. 

There can be little doubt too that mod- 
ern life, such especially as exists in America, 
presents so many dangers and difficulties, 
that a strong Will is an urgent necessity. 
From your earliest days at School you have 
been subjected to tests and trials and temp- 
tations of various kinds — I do not mean 
in moral matters merely, but in matters of 
honor, courage, and endurance. Your games 
test you, your studies test you, your loyalty 
to your school is tested. You, American 
Boys, enjoy liberty and independence which, 
while it gives you a splendid opportunity 
of showing grit and virtue, affords you also 
opportunities of doing dishonorable things 



24 THE WILL TO WIN 

without the danger of being punished. For 
you, perhaps more than for boys of other 
nations. Strength of Will is all-important 
in early youth. It is of course supremely 
important for all boys, but for you in partic- 
ular it is important because you begin life 
younger. 

While still very young — those at least 
of you who live in cities — you find your- 
selves in the midst of intense activity, in a 
rapidly moving, hustling stream of life in 
which there seems little opportunity for quiet 
reflection. The importance of "cZoingr" 
things obscures the importance of 'thinking" 
and ''praying.'' The urgency of the present 
dulls the sound of the future's insistent call. 
You feel it hard to prepare for the future, 
since the present is so full, so attractive, so 
engaging. You feel it hard to draw away 
from the swift current of events, and quietly 
make ready for the far-off, dim future. 
And yet that is precisely what you must do. 
You must train your character by strengthen- 
ing your Will so that you may play a big part 
and play it well later on. 

You may ask, or rather perhaps it may be 
necessary to point out clearly once again, 
the part the Will plays in ordinary actions 



NEED OF WILL-TRAINING 25 

of life, so that you may see the need of Will- 
training more concretely. Let us take, for 
instance, an experience that I am sure you 
have often had, that of getting yourself to 
plunge into the water from the end of a 
spring-board on a cold day. An analysis 
or introspection of what passes in the mind 
on such occasions may interest you. 

Let us suppose that we find ourselves 
standing, on a rather cold evening, at the 
end of a spring-board, prepared for a plunge. 
We have come down to bathe, thinking it 
would be nice and warm, and now it has 
turned rather chilly. Something has to be 
done, we cannot return without bathing, and 
yet the water looks cold and uninviting. 
We cross our arms, rub our shins together, 
shiver a little, wish we were anywhere else, 
and hesitate. 

The task of plunging seems harder and 
harder, the longer we hesitate. We know 
that, and resolve to go in before very long 
— but that very long is indefinite. The 
thought of the coldness of the water, and 
of the shock of the first contact, holds 
us back. A certain inertia takes possession 
of us and we find it hard to take action. 
We feel the board under our feet, and the 



26 THE WILL TO WIN 

wind which tosses our hair. We see and 
hear things very distinctly and yet we take 
little interest in what we see or hear. At 
the focus of consciousness is the thought 
— "I must after all go in." We know that 
if we brace up our Wills to the task — if we 
will to will — that we shall be able to plunge 
in; but we refuse to will to will — we don't 
want to put that constraint on ourselves. It 
seems too cruel. 

Meanwhile things are getting worse and 
coming to a climax. We feel colder. The 
task seems harder. But the necessity of 
action is more and more stringent. We are 
gradually, although unconsciously, and seem- 
ingly against our Will, being moved for- 
ward. We are tending closer and closer 
towards the climax. Little now separates 
us from our fate. The Will is no longer af- 
fected very much by motives for or against. 
Force of habit now decides all. For a mo- 
ment our eyes rest on the water, the image 
of ourselves swimming about grows more 
and more realistic. A momentary "blank- 
ness" seems to pass across the surface of 
consciousness. We become aware that an 
effort has just been made — and that our 
toes are kicking away from the board — we 



NEED OF WILL-TRAINING 27 

are now plunging into the water and the 
Will-act is over. 

You will see from this analysis or intro- 
spection how little things sway and move the 
Will, and how helpless and dependent on 
little circumstances we are if we have not a 
resolute Will, and a clear purpose before us. 

It is well for you to bear in mind that 
you are not merely an individual, you are 
also a child of the nation. If the nation 
as a whole is to be decisive, earnest, thor- 
ough, the individuals must first of all be such. 
If the nation is to have a high "morale," to 
have a strong national "Will to Win," to 
have a lofty moral tone, the individuals, 
the children of the nation, must first of all 
be strong and healthy-willed. The spirit 
of the nation is the spirit of the nations^ sons. 
The spirit of the Catholic Church in America 
is the spirit of her children. If, as I trust, 
you mean to be good citizens and thorough 
Catholics, and if, as a consequence, you mean 
to be useful to your Faith and Fatherland, 
your first and chief need is to have a Strong 
Will, improved by God's grace, and this 
Strong Will is to be won by paying the price, 
by training your Will! 




SECTION IV 
RESOLUTIONS 

"RESOLUTION" as you know is 
an act of the Will whereby you set 
yourself to achieve something. You 
resolve, for instance, to go to early Mass 
every day for a week. You propose, prom- 
ise yourself, and make up your mind to do 
so. You mean to do it, and you commit 
yourself to this course of action. You make 
a contract with yourself to do it, and you 
feel in consequence under an obligation to 
do it. That course of action has now a 
certain claim upon you. If you neglect to 
fulfil your promise you are conscious of a 
certain unworthiness, or even of dishonor. 
The course of action resolved on calls for 
fulfilment — you have promised, and you 
feel that you should make good your under- 
taking. The promise, or contract you make 
with yourself, about achieving something, is 
the first part of the Resolution — the mak- 
ing. The actual fulfilling of the promise 
is the second part of the Resolution — the 

28 



RESOLUTIONS 29 

keeping. This too is an act or series of acts 
of the Will, wherein the Will, as master of 
mind and body, calls upon and commands 
the other faculties to perform the work 
stipulated. This power of making and keep- 
ing Resolutions is one of the most important 
powers we have. Here the Will performs 
a great function; it directs and controls 
our conduct; it decides our future. It 
is responsible for that conduct which it 
decides on and brings into being, and so 
it is, in a sense, a creator. If it produces 
what is good, we are virtuous. If it pro- 
duces what is evil, we are bad. If it faith- 
fully carries out the Resolutions it makes, 
it is strong. If it fails to carry out such res- 
olutions, it is weak. Its ability to keep 
Resolutions is its supreme test, and hence 
the man who "keeps his word," and is "faith- 
ful to" or "sticks to" his principles is the 
most honorable of men. 

From these remarks you will see that a 
Resolution is a very serious matter. It con- 
cerns us vitally. It tests and tries us. It 
is of deep significance. It is the most "sa- 
cred" of our natural acts, in so far as natu- 
ral acts can be "sacred." It is not a thing 
to trifle with. If we make and break Res- 



30 THE WILL TO WIN 

olutions carelessly and lightly we injure 
our Will — we undermine its strength, we 
lessen, so. to say, its dignity, and we degrade 
it. A Resolution should be made well, or not 
at all. It should only be made after care- 
ful thought, and with deep earnestness. It 
should be kept with rigorous exactitude. 
We should not make Resolutions that may 
be perhaps beyond our strength. If we do 
we run the risk of failure, and failure is in- 
jurious to the Will. We must secure a victory 
every time in every Resolution, 

Let us now suppose, in order to study a 
little the art of making and keeping Resolu- 
tions, that we set ourselves to overcome a 
habit of unpunctuality. That is what the 
Will sets itself to achieve. Now, how are 
we to go about the work.^ How are we to 
make the necessary Resolution well, and to 
secure success.^ First of all we must for- 
mulate the Resolution. 

To formulate the Resolution thus, "I will 
never be late for a duty," would be to court 
failure. Such a resolution would be too 
vague, too great, and too difficult. We must 
render it definite, small, and well within 
our powers. Perhaps this would do. "I 
will never be late for important duties." 



RESOLUTIONS 31 

Even that is too vague and too great. Divide 
et impera! Take the matter in parts and 
conquer the parts one by one. So let us 
resolve about punctuality in one impor- 
tant duty. "I will get up at once when 
called in the morning." That is now suffi- 
ciently precise and it will strike hard at 
one of our faults of unpunctuality. Still 
we can render it more definite by means of 
a time limit. And so we resolve thus, ''Each 
day, for the next ten days, I will get up at 
once when called in the morning.'^ 

So far we have merely formulated or drawn 
up the Resolution. It must now be made 
by the Will as earnestly as possible. It will 
not suffice merely to say it over a few times 
and to memorize it. The whole Will with 
all its force and energy must, so to speak, 
be hurled into the Resolution. I must make 
it as firmly and seriously as if my life de- 
pended on it. Again and again, every day, 
I must make it in this manner. I must 
strive to secure that success will be abso- 
lutely certain, almost inevitable. I must 
make my Resolution part of myself, and 
identify myself wholly with it. I must be 
able to say, "Yes, before God, I really mean 
to get up every morning, at once, when I 



32 THE WILL TO WIN 

am called for the next ten mornings. I 
will keep this Resolution. I know I can 
keep it and I will keep it. I will take every 
precaution to keep it, and I will make any 
sacrifice that reason demands in order to 
render its fulfilment certain." 

So far we have described the part of the 
Will in the Resolution, but the intellect too 
at the command of the Will plays its part. 
The intellect is the light that illuminates. 
It ponders over the uses and advantages of 
punctuality and proposes new motives to 
elicit a stronger determination in the Will. 
It throws new light on the object resolved 
on by the Will and renders it more attractive. 
It exposes the fallacies of hostile motives 
and maintains by its reasoning the sense 
of conviction. 

Next, in the making as in the keeping of a 
Resolution, we must solicit help from heaven. 
Above all we need God's grace. We must 
pray then for the grace to be faithful to the 
Resolution, remembering that the attain- 
ment of punctuality and the mastery over 
ourselves in this matter will count for God's 
glory and our own salvation. We even go 
so far as to offer little acts of self-denial, 
or undergo some trifling self-inflicted pain. 



RESOLUTIONS 33 

in order to win the desired grace, and to in- 
tensify the seriousness of our Resolution. 

Resolutions made in this thorough way 
are certain of success — provided always 
they be well within our strength and that 
we keep up our efforts to the end. The 
making of a Resolution thus passes imper- 
ceptibly into the keeping of a Resolution, 
for we go on making and reiterating it until 
it is fulfilled. When at last it is fulfilled to 
the letter we experience a splendid sense of 
satisfaction, of duty well done, and of self- 
confidence. We realize, at such a moment, 
the meaning and the value of Will-power. 
We realize fully that we have within us a 
great power, and that there are things, even 
hard things, that we can do, if only we set 
ourselves to do them. 

I suppose then that you have acquired 
the power of getting up at once when called 
in the morning. This is a first and impor- 
tant step towards acquiring the virtue of 
punctuality. Other similar steps should now 
be taken in due order — resolution should 
follow resolution, each directed towards a 
different part of the virtue, each well made 
and duly fulfilled — until at length the vir- 
tue as a whole is acquired. This, of course, 



34 THE WILL TO WIN 

will take time, and demand perseverance, 
but it will involve nothing beyond your 
strength. 

These are now a few points, which I shall 
summarize briefly, and which it is well to 
bear in mind. Some of them are repetitions 
of points already noted. 

(1) The Resolution should always be def- 

inite, limited in scope, and well within 
our power. 

(2) Careful consideration should precede each 

Resolution. It must not be hastily 
formulated. It should be carefully 
chosen, and well directed towards an 
important point of the object to be 
achieved. 

(3) The malcing and keeping of the Resolu- 

tion depends wholly on yourself. In 
this matter the burden falls on your 
own shoulders, and no one can bear 
it for you. Some help may however 
be obtained from advice in the mat- 
ter of formulating your Resolution. 

(4) Resolutions demand a great output of 

effort. Effort is the price you must 
be prepared to pay for success. If 
the price is not paid, success will not 
be secured. 



RESOLUTIONS 35 

(5) If through weakness or passing care- 

lessness or misadventure we fail in a 
Resolution, let us suppose on the third 
or fourth day, the Resolution must 
not be abandoned. It is still there 
and it calls still for fulfilment. We 
must at once remake and reiterate 
it with redoubled energy, and we must 
persevere in it until the stipulated 
time is up. If the first lapse or fail- 
ure meant that ipso facto the Resolu- 
tion ceased to exist, we should be 
working on the absurd assumption that 
our Resolution was only to be kept 
until it was broken ! 

(6) Some Resolutions, those for instance 

which aim at avoiding a moral fault, 
something bad in itself, must of course 
be kept absolutely. They are abso- 
lute and do not admit of exceptions or 
conditions. We must keep them even 
at the expense of displeasing those 
we love. Other Resolutions however 
are not absolute, and so, without harm, 
they may be conditioned. They ad- 
mit of exceptions. An example will 
make this clear. Suppose, for in- 
stance, a boy resolves to go to early 



36 THE WILL TO WIN 

Mass every day during vacation. Now 
it may happen that during vacation 
he catches a bad cold. However he 
resolves all the same to get up and 
go to Mass. When he is getting up, 
his mother comes in and says, "No! 
you must stay in bed to-day." What 
is he to do? If his mother really in- 
sists, and he sees there is question of 
obedience, then evidently his duty is 
to obey. But does this break his 
Resolution .f^ Surely not! His Resolu- 
tion, if it was properly formulated, 
carried with it at least the implicit 
condition, "I will go to early Mass, 
etc., unless it is my duty not to do so. 
In all such matters we must obey 
right reason. 
(7) Resolutions I said should be definite, 
limited, and well within our power. 
What then of big, heroic Resolutions? 
Are they never to be made? Well, 
some Resolutions though apparently 
very big are well within our power. 
They are shown to be quite possible 
by the example of other men who 
make them. Take, for instance, the 
Resolution to abstain from all intoxi- 



RESOLUTIONS 37 

eating liquors during our whole lives. 
This Resolution we call the "Heroic 
Offering" or the "Pledge for Life." 
It is of course a gigantic Resolution, 
and it seems contrary to all our rules 
to attempt such a Resolution. Still 
strangely enough it is not so. It is 
well within our powers. It is defi- 
nite, precise, and limited in many ways. 
Besides, it is shown to be quite possi- 
ble by the example of others who make 
and keep it. Also it carries with it 
great graces, and a great inspiration 
— it means so much good for our 
Faith and our Fatherland — and so 
we need not be at all afraid to make 
it. 
(8) The good results achieved by Resolu- 
tions are very wonderful. Whole lives 
have been changed for the better by 
well-made and well-kept Resolutions. 
Often the good results seem to come 
very slowly, but they come very surely. 
In the morning the mountain-top in 
the distance that you mean to reach, 
seems very far away, and each step 
that you take as you walk towards it 
is a very tiny advance. Yet by mid- 



38 THE WILL TO WIN 

day, or a little later, you find yourself 
on the summit and you are astonished 
when you think of the distance that 
stretched before you that morning. 
So too, by fidelity to your Resolutions, 
you will achieve very remarkable re- 
sults, results as remarkable, for in- 
stance, as that of learning thoroughly 
a difficult language by devoting to it 
five or ten minutes a day. 




SECTION V 
A METHOD OF WILL-TRAINING 

E have seen that the Will needs 
to be trained like other natural 
faculties, such as the faculties 
of running, jumping, painting, remember- 
ing, and reasoning. Now as the one and 
only way to train a natural faculty is by 
judiciously and methodically exercising it, 
we may conclude that the Will is to be trained 
by judicious and methodical exercise. The 
Will then must submit to the methodical 
repetition of some Will-act, in order to gain 
strength and efficiency — just as a champion 
runner must again and again cover his course 
before he is in perfect training. Now the 
Will-act that is most suitable for repeti- 
tion, and which best exercises the Will, is a 
Resolution, well made and kept. In Res- 
olutions the Will has to will strongly, to 
make efforts, to exert self-control, and to 
persevere. Indeed, a Resolution embraces 
every activity of the Will, and though in 



40 THE WILL TO WIN 

theory it might be better to choose some less 
complex Will-act, still in practise it will be 
found that a Resolution is the best exer- 
cise for Will-training. A Resolution well 
made and well kept braces up the Will, and 
gives it a healthy tone. If another Resolu- 
tion follows, the good condition of the Will 
is maintained and improved, and so on. 
Meanwhile the Will grows in strength and 
so to say works more freely and more easily. 
It makes efforts with greater readiness, and 
puts more strength into them. It controls 
impulses with greater ease and decisiveness. 
According as the Will improves a sense of 
power is experienced which makes us more 
confident, and more masterful in our self- 
control. 

Now, what we aim at in this section is 
the suggesting of a method for carrying out 
well-ordered Will-exercises. Isolated Will- 
acts though good in themselves are wholly 
insufficient for Will-training. Occasional acts 
of self-denial will not train the Will al- 
though they have a good effect. Will- 
training must be thoroughly methodical. It 
must also be thoroughly serious. Exer- 
cises done in a half-hearted or careless way 
will do no good. The exercises must be 



METHOD OF WILL-TRAINING 41 

done seriously, they must evoke effort, and 
they must be undergone with regularity. 
These three notes (1) efort, (2) regularity, 
and (3) seriousness must characterize the 
exercises. No fear need be entertained as 
to ultimate success. If the Will is exercised 
it must improve. That is the law of all 
natural faculties. About success there need 
be no misgiving, and so the exercises should 
be undertaken hopefully and confidently. 

There are two Will-qualities in particular 
which we must at first aim at winning — 

(1) Power to resist impulse. 

(2) Power to make efforts. 

We have, of course, already in some small 
degree these qualities; unless we had them 
we could not train our Wills, for Will-power 
is needed to train Will. But we have them 
in small quantity and in poor condition. We 
must aim then (1) at having power to resist 
calmly and decisively, even the strongest 
impulses, and (2) we must aim at being 
able to make at all times and places really 
powerful Will-efforts. 

The exercises then will aim firstly at train- 
ing the Will to resist impulses, arising from 
natural tendencies or aroused by outside 



42 THE WILL TO WIN 

attractions. If, for example, when very 
hungry and thirsty you sit down to dinner 
and you set yourself to eat and drink very 
slowly and quietly, suppressing all quick 
movements, or if you decide to drink only 
half as much as usual in spite of your thirst, 
and to eat less than usual in spite of your 
hunger, you will be performing an exercise 
of the kind required. In the second place 
the exercises will aim at training the Will to 
make efforts in spite of disinclination and 
even pain. If, for example, when very tired 
and weary you go to your room, but instead 
of sitting or lying down to rest you deliber- 
ately set yourself to arrange very carefully 
your books and furniture, picking up pieces 
of paper from the floor, and dusting your 
table and chairs, and perhaps taking your 
clothes from drawers and carefully brush- 
ing and folding them, all in spite of your 
fatigue and weariness, you would be per- 
forming an exercise of the kind required in 
the second case. 

These examples of exercises will suggest 
to you many others, and indeed there is no 
limit to the number of such exercises. In 
connection with your meals, your prayers, 
your studies, your work, your school-rules. 



METHOD OF WILL-TRAINING 43 

your habits of dress or conversation, many- 
such exercises can be devised. There are 
other exercises too of a different type, and 
technically better suited for Will-training, of 
which I will speak later. For the moment 
it may be best to describe the necesssary 
preliminaries of Will-training. 

In order to do exercises methodically it 
will be necessary to have a note-book and 
to record day by day the fulfilment of the 
daily task. Also it is well to be able to re- 
cord the time spent each day at the exercise, 
and so a watch is useful. The task will 
consist in the keeping of a Resolution, made 
in the way we have described in the last 
section. It should run for, say, ten days. 
At the end of ten days another Resolu- 
tion is made and another series of tasks 
begins. 

Now as regards the noting down of the 
Resolution and of the fulfilment of the daily 
task, the following system may perhaps be 
found useful and a page of your note-book 
recording a task might run thus. 



44 



THE WILL TO WIN 



Task No. 10 
Exercise in Controlling Impulsiveness 



^ n 


Each day for the next ten days I will, slowly and 


^■S 


deliberatelyt drop into this box, one by one, a hun- 


cS^ 


dred bits of paper. 


No. 1 


10/6/1916 


Task lasted from 


2 p.m. to 2. 8 p.m. 


2 


11 " 






9 a.m. to 9. 7| a.m. 


3 


12 " 






10 a.m. to 10. 8| a.m. 


4 


13 *• 






4 p.m. to 4. 9 p.m. 


5 


14 " 






7 p.m. to 7. 8| p.m. 


6 


15 " 






2.30 p.m. to 2.38 p.m. 


7 


16 " 






9.15 a.m. to 9.22^ a.m. 


8 


17 " 






11.15 a.m. to 11.22 a.m. 


9 


18 * 






11 a.m. to 11. Sam. 


10 


19 " 






10.30 a.m. to 10.37| a.m. 



Notes on the Task. — Task faithfully ac- 
complished. Found it a good exercise for 
controlling the impulse I felt to go quickly. 
I had to overcome impatience and feeling 
of weariness. I felt my Will was really 
exercised and "braced up." I came to real- 
ize a bit that the Will is a power which 
gets things done according to a predeter- 
mined way. 



Notes should be written at the end of the 
task referring to the way the task was done 
and to the feelings, etc., experienced, and as 
to whether or not the task was a good one 



METHOD OF WILL-TRAINING 45 

for the end in view. A useful exercise may 
perhaps be repeated later on. 

Now briefly the system of Will-training 
which I suggest to you is this. First of all 
choose some task, not a hard one, but still 
one which requires some little effort and some 
little sacrifice. Next formulate your Reso- 
lution in the manner described. Make it 
very firmly and very earnestly. Put as 
much will-force as you can into it, and write 
it out in your note-book as above. Then 
fulfil the Resolution faithfully, noting the 
time of fulfilment in your note-book each 
day. When your first task is finished go 
on to another. Choose one if possible just 
a little bit harder — at least not less hard 
than the previous one, and make and fulfil 
your Resolution as before. Make this sys- 
tem a part of your day's work and it will 
secure for you at least one true Will-exer- 
cise every day. By this means your Will 
must increase in strength and efficiency. 
And when in due time your tasks are fairly 
difficult and demand a fairly serious Will- 
effort, you will see very clearly what prog- 
ress you have made. Meanwhile your 
perseverance in continuing your daily Will- 
exercise will be itself of inestimable value 



46 THE WILL TO WIN 

in winning for you that all-important Will- 
quality of doggedness and tenacity of pur- 
pose. Great patience is required and it 
would be very foolish to choose difficult 
tasks at first. What you need above all, 
and what will do your Will most good, 
is quiet perseverance in undertaking some 
little but real Will-exercise every day. 

I will now suggest to you various little 
acts which you may find suitable for the 
subject of your exercises — they are con- 
nected in turn with Spiritual Duties, Disci- 
pline and Work, Meals, etc. 
(a) Some additional morning or evening 
prayers; Stations of the Cross daily; 
a chapter of a Kempis to be read 
slowly daily; kneeling without cush- 
ions; praying with arms outstretched; 
using Holy Water with great rever- 
ence; kneeling all through Mass, etc. 
(h) Getting up at once when called in 
the morning; punctuality in going to 
lessons; accuracy in memory lessons; 
silence in class; observance of school 
bounds or library rules, etc. 
(c) Drink half usual amount of tea or milk, 
or eat half usual amount of butter or 
meat; eat the first few mouthfuls 



METHOD OF TRAINING- WILL 47 

at meals very slowly; take less of 
some dish that you like; do without 
sweets, etc. 
(d) Dress, etc. with utmost tidiness; cor- 
rect faults of manner; don't put your 
hands in your pockets; don't jeer or 
laugh at others; play up well at 
games you don't like; don't try to 
get your favorite place at recreation; 
great neatness in doing your work; 
salute superiors politely, etc. 
These points may suggest tasks. The 
task chosen should be very definite and con- 
tinued for ten days. It should not be too 
hard nor so easy as not to cost any effort. 
There is now another type of exercise 
which is in reality better adapted to Will- 
training. These exercises resemble exercises 
undergone to develop for instance the fac- 
ulty of playing music. To become good 
at music you exercise your fingers according 
to, say, the Virgil Clavier system. You 
concentrate your mind on one thing at a 
time, namely, free rhythmic movements of 
the fingers. Or to take an example from 
football training, you run up and down a 
field passing a ball from one to another. 
Here you devote yourself to a simple ele- 



48 THE WILL TO WIN 

ment of football, namely^ catching neatly 
and passing accurately. You eliminate all 
the ordinary features of the game in order 
to exercise yourself and to become profi- 
cient in one element of the game. The use 
of head-line copy-books for learning the art 
of writing is another example of specialized 
training. Here all the ordinary elements of 
writing, forming sentences, etc. are eliminated 
save only one, that of the exact forma- 
tion of letters and words. Now in Will- 
exercises a similar method can be adopted.^ 
We can set ourselves Will-tasks where only 
one feature of the Will-tasks of ordinary 
life remains. All the other elements are 
eliminated, and we devote ourselves to one 
thing alone. Take, for instance, the follow- 
ing task — to turn over one by one slowly 
and deliberately one hundred pages of a 
book. This task exercises the Will in con- 
trolling impatient and impulsive movements. 
It is in itself a very trivial, and, at least ex- 
ternally, a silly occupation. But the point 
to notice is that by it you get exactly what 
you want, namely an exercise in self-control. 
Everything else is eliminated, and the Will, 

^ As far as possible to eliminate distracting elements. 



METHOD OF WILL-TRAINING 49 

undistracted and unfettered, sets itself to 
repress impulsiveness. 

Exercises of this kind can easily be found. 
I suggest a few obvious ones, and recom- 
mend you to make them the matter of your 
Resolutions and Will-tasks.^ 
(a) Exercises in Self-control. — To drop, 
one by one, slowly and deliberately 
into a box a hundred bits of paper. 
To stand on a chair contentedly with 
arms outstretched for five minutes. 
To write out, with great care, twenty 
times, "I will train my Will." To 
swing your arms very slowly and de- 
liberately for five minutes. To count 
aloud very slowly up to one hundred, etc. 
(6) Exercises in Making Efforts. — To 
take out and replace your boot laces 
quietly but resolutely five times. Sim- 
ilarly, to get up and down off a 
chair twenty times. To copy out ten 
items from a dictionary accurately, 
quietly, and energetically. To watch 
a clock for ^yq minutes, making some 
sharp energetic movement every quar- 
ter minute, etc. 

* These exercises should also be continued for ten days, like 
those given above, and should be carried out in the same manner. 



50 THE WILL TO WIN 

These exercises are of course useless un- 
less the Will is called into play, that is, un- 
less it is employed energetically in Willing 
during the task. The mere external act 
that the task calls for is itself of no use what- 
ever. What is important is that the Will 
should be exercised. Other similar tasks can 
be devised, by means of common objects 
such as pencils, buttons, pins, matches, etc. 



SECTION VI 
PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 

SUPPOSE for a moment that you have 
read this booklet thus far with some in- 
terest, and that you are ready to admit 
that "it would be a good thing to train the 
Will." But I also seem to hear you saying 
"All the same, this is not the sort of thing 
for a fellow like me. I couldn't keep it up. 
I'm not made that way and I hate that kind 
of thing." And further I picture to my- 
self that you are looking forward to exams., 
and games, and holidays — that perhaps you 
are "fed up" with school-life and school- 
regulations, and that you have a lot of things 
and prospects of your own in your head. 
In fine I'm sure you are not "on" for Will- 
training just now. 



Well, even in our busiest or most thought- 
less and gayest moods there is somewhere, 
some small corner of our hearts, where the 
voice of good-sense gets a tearing. And 

61 



52 THE WILL TO WIN 

so I appeal in that direction and I do so 
frankly. 

"Because this business of Will-training is 
wearisome and uninteresting you are not 
going in for it. That is what you mean, 
is it not? You prefer to take your chances 
in life 'with your Will as it is/ and you don't 
want to start tinkering at yourself! You 
prefer to follow the beaten track, may I 
say the broad way, and to leave such special 
enterprises to saints and idealists. Other 
men, you would say, have got on well enough 
without Will-training, and there seems no 
special reason why you should not get on 
as well as they. You want to have a good 
time, while of course doing your duty pretty 
well, and not to be bothered by cranks." 

Have I put your case fairly.^ If so, will 
you hear my reply .^^ 

You seem to be forgetting, just now, in 
your present mood, thoughts that come to 
you at other times, in your best moods; 
thoughts that come to you when you read or 
hear about good and brave deeds done, and 
heroic sacrifices made. At such times you 
feel you would like to do something big for 
your country and for your Faith. You even 



PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 53 

resolve to imitate the patriotism or the 
virtue of the hero you heard about. Some- 
times too when you read the history of your 
country — that long story of splendid effort 
and sacrifice — you feel yourself deeply 
stirred and you would be ready, if asked at 
that moment, to give your life for America. 
Is it not so.^ Have you not felt it.^^ Often, 
too, after a good confession when your heart 
feels light and full of hope and gladness, 
and when, perhaps with a blush of shame, 
you think of what you have been, you resolve 
very earnestly to be better and to give up 
evil habits or evil companions. Or perhaps 
you have been touched more than once by 
some words of your father or mother, when 
you had grieved them by something you did. 
Then you promised to do better and to work 
hard in future. Perhaps too you have felt 
your ambition stirred by the example of 
some one whom you know, and who by 
great industry and skill has made his way 
in life, and is now wealthy and influential. 
Thinking of him, you perhaps made up your 
mind to strive hard to improve yourself and 
to win for your father and mother comfort 
in their old age. 

Certainly, at various times of your life 



54 THE WILL TO WIN 

you have set before yourself noble purposes 
and big projects. The difficulties before you 
were made little of. You would do some- 
thing great, so you resolved. And thus, 
consciously or unconsciously, you have al- 
ways carried in your heart an ideal — and 
you carry it still — and always in your best 
moods, and at your best moments you re- 
turn to it and cherish it again. But alas! 
you have not as yet set yourself to work to 
prepare yourself for the winning of your ideal. 
You know that if you look into your heart 
you will find there weaknesses and failings 
which block your way. You know you have 
not as yet the Strength of Will necessary 
to be a great Catholic or a great American. 
And now — do you remember.^ — just a 
few moments ago you were saying that you 
wouldn't and couldn't take the steps that 
are surely needed. The steps that will make 
you strong of Will and noble in character! 
"It would be too uninteresting — too weari- 
some" you said. But what if it is wearisome.f^ 
if it does cost.^* — is it not still worth the labor 
and worth the pain? 

Well, think it over again. Remember this 
may be a turning point in your life. Re- 



PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 55 

member that nothing very hard is asked of 
you — only a little methodical self-sacrifice 
— a resolution of small compass, well made 
and well kept, and then another and another, 
and so on till your Will is strong and stanch. 
It is not much in itself, and yet it will mean 
so much for Faith and Country. Not much 
in itself and yet if left undone it may mean 
one more tragedy, "for this," as a recent 
writer has said, "for this I call a tragedy, 
that a man should die who might have been 
wise and was not." 



SECTION VII 
TEE WILL AND HABIT 

T is true that in general we are crea- 
tures of habit. We walk, talk, work, eat, 
write according to habits we have formed, 
when or how we no longer remember. We 
derive great advantage from habits because 
in virtue of them we can do things easily 
and quickly. We are indeed a mass of 
habits, "imitators and copiers of our past 
selves." Some of the habits we have ac- 
quired are very complex and wonderful. 
Some habits we acquired with difficulty and 
others with great ease. Some habits we 
gained unconsciously or almost involun- 
tarily, some with full deliberation. It is 
of the latter that I wish now to speak, and 
especially of those which are both voluntary 
and evil. 

It is, we know, easy to acquire an evil 
habit and very hard to get rid of one. The 
first time we performed the evil act that 
eventually became a habit we brought about 
a physical change in ourselves. It may have 

56 



THE WILL AND HABIT 57 

been a bitter word of sarcasm, or a blow 
struck in anger, or a deliberate lie, or an 
act of stealing or of immodesty. What- 
ever it was it left a physical trace behind. 
We may have repented of it bitterly, and 
made atonement for it, but nevertheless the 
trace of that sin remained in our nature and 
it was easier to do it a second time. We 
were no longer the same as before. Then 
perhaps a second time we deliberately com- 
mitted the same fault. The trace grew 
deeper. Again we committed it and this 
time it was much easier to do it, and we felt 
much less repugnance. The habit was formed. 
And now, perhaps after very many falls 
we find that the evil habit is very strong. 
We have tried from time to time to rid our- 
selves of it, but we have failed. It is there 
still, and now once more we want to rid our- 
selves of it. What are we to do.? If we do 
not overcome it, it will ruin our lives and 
bear us irresistibly toward a destiny so 
terrible that we dread to think of it. What 
are we to do.^^ Can an evil habit be over- 
comes^ And if so, how is it to be overcome .f^ 
Yes! an evil habit, no matter how strong 
and how deeply imbedded in our nature, 
can be overcome, but naturally it costs 



58 THE WILL TO WIN 

much to overcome it. There is a sure means, 
and only one means, and that is the forma- 
tion of a new habit, a good habit which runs 
counter to the evil one. "Habit is over- 
come by habit." If you are habitually de- 
ceitful and false, you must little by little 
build up a good habit of sincerity and truth. 
If you are habitually idle and lazy, you must 
build up the virtue of industry and of work- 
ing energetically. If you are habitually sen- 
sual and immodest, you must build up the 
good habit of self-denial and delicate modesty. 
But how are such new habits to be formed. ^^ 
How am I to become sincere and truthful, 
seeing that I am constantly telling lies and 
deceiving people .^^ Is it sufficient on several 
occasions to tell the truth and to be open 
and frank .f^ No! the mere repetition of such 
acts would not be sufficient to form a strong 
counter-habit. You must very deliber- 
ately, very methodically, very resolutely, 
and with all the strength of your Will set 
yourself to will truth and frankness. And 
here we return to the principles we laid 
down in the section on Resolutions. We 
form new habits by means of Resolutions 
strongly made and faithfully kept, and tena- 
ciously persisted in and repeated. We must 



THE WILL AND HABIT 59 

build up the virtue of frankness and truth- 
fulness, part by part, bit by bit, just as we 
pointed out the way to acquire the good 
habit or virtue of punctuality. There is 
no need here to go through the form we 
prescribed in the section on Resolutions, 
but it must be faithfully adhered to if a 
strong new counter-habit is to be formed 
that will eliminate or render nugatory an 
existing evil habit. 

Hence the secret of overcoming evil habits 
lies in the art of forming good habits by 
means of Resolutions. In this matter, of 
course, we must, more than in any other, 
seek aid and grace by prayer and the Sacra- 
ments. Some evil habits are so strong that 
no mere natural force of Will could over- 
come them. But force of Will aided by 
God's grace succeeds and can always suc- 
ceed, and force of Will, as the best natural 
means, must be called up and used to the 
fullest extent. 

I need not, I think, dwell upon the im- 
portance of overcoming evil habits at the 
very earliest date. The longer we indulge 
such habits, the harder it becomes to con- 
quer them. We must get rid of them at 
once. After-remedies come too late. There 



60 THE WILL TO WIN 

must be no delay in this matter; we must 
lay the axe to the root while the root is not 
too strong. From your own experience of 
life, from the examples of others, you know 
how terrible a thing it is to be a slave to an 
evil habit, for instance to be "a slave to 
drink." Such a one is wretched beyond 
words. He brings misery and shame on 
himself and on those with whom he lives. 
His weakness of Will makes his life on earth 
a hell. He hates his vice. He hates his 
slavery. He longs to be free — but again 
and again he falls helplessly, as often indeed 
as occasion presents itself. 

For you, there may be many minor evil 
habits that you should rid yourself of — 
habits that will tell against you in after life, 
and habits that are unbecoming. Perhaps 
you have a bitter way of criticizing others, 
perhaps you have a habit of betting, or of 
swearing, or of working in a slipshod way, 
or of roughness and untidiness or of selfish- 
ness and self-indulgence — whatever faulty 
or improper habits you may have, the sooner 
you get rid of them the better, for later on 
you will find it very hard to do so. 

When fighting against an evil habit we 
are up against an insidious and unrelenting 



THE WILL AND HABIT 61 

foe. This of course applies more particu- 
larly to evil habits in the strict sense, which 
are founded in passions. We have to fight 
with all the courage, constancy, and wis- 
dom we command. Half-hearted efforts are 
of no avail. We must fight with all our 
Will-power and keep up the fight to the end, 
in spite of defeats and failures. We must 
never lose heart even though we seem to have 
lost. We must still fight on and regard our 
failures as additional and powerful motives 
for fresh efforts. 

"If you want to abolish a habit and its 
accumulated circumstances as well," writes 
Dr. Oppenheim, "you must grapple with 
the matter as earnestly as you would with 
a physical enemy. You must go into the 
encounter with all the tenacity of deter- 
mination, with all the fierceness of resolve 
— yea, even with a passion for success that 
may be called vindictive. No human enemy 
can be as insidious, as persevering, as unre- 
lenting as an unfavorable habit. It never 
sleeps, it needs no rest. ... It is like a par- 
asite that grows with the growth of the 
supporting body, and like a parasite it can 
best be killed by violent separation and by 
crushing." 



SECTION VIII 
TEE WILL TO WIN 



''HE best spirit in which to enter a 
fight is the spirit of confidence and 

-1 self-reliance. "I'm going to win this 
fight. I'm sure of that, for I know I've 
got it in me, and I'm going to do my best." 
That spirit redoubles our strength and en- 
ergy. It evokes all that is pluckiest and 
most enterprising in us. It fires us. It 
electrifies us. It gives us the dogged tenac- 
ity to hold out in spite of many a heavy 
blow. It awakens the "no surrender" spirit. 
It spells victory. It means the Will to Win, 

Confidence and self-reliance, combined 
with Strength of Will, insure success, in 
so far as it can be insured. Great-hearted, 
courageous, and intense resoluteness can- 
not be baulked of victory. To those who 
have this spirit nothing seems impossible; 
"impossible" in their eyes is a word made 
for fools alone. The Will as a mighty spirit- 
ual force, an inexhaustible reserve of power 
and energy, is there at hand helping, sup- 



THE WILL TO WIN 63 

porting, and seconding their efforts. They 
know its value, they feel its inspiration, and 
they trust in its strength. 

The spirit of confidence and self-reliance 
can be acquired, and it is well worth acquir- 
ing. It can be acquired by the Will-exer- 
cises suggested in this booklet. Each task, 
well and faithfully performed, will increase 
our sense of power to achieve, it will in- 
crease our self-reliance. Each task well ful- 
filled will give us good reason to know that 
we have a Will capable of facing a project 
and of carrying it through, and this feeling 
and conviction is the basis of confidence. 
The recollection of past tasks well done will 
help us to face new tasks confidently. The 
meaning of confidence and self-reliance, and 
the importance of that attitude of mind will 
gradually come home to us. Then we shall 
strive to cultivate it and to make it an habit- 
ual state of mind. This brave, cheery spirit 
is of inestimable value. It is good for our- 
selves, for soul and body, and it is good 
for others. The man who can face suffer- 
ing and difficulty gaily and gladly, without 
trouble of mind and without being depressed, 
is a source of inspiration to others. His 
buoyancy and cheeriness not only makes 



64 THE WILL TO WIN 

his own burden lighter, but it shows others 
how to bear their burdens. To be bright, 
to "keep smiling," to "carry on" joyfully; 
that admirable spirit is the natural out- 
come of confidence and self-reliance — the 
outcome of the Will to Win, 

The chief enemy and the antithesis of the 
Will to Win is discouragement. It is a feel- 
ing of depression, hopelessness, and to some 
extent, of indifference. We fret, worry, brood 
over our troubles and the difficulties be- 
fore us, and we become down-cast. Things 
look black and gloomy. The trouble seems 
to grow larger and larger. Our spirit be- 
comes oppressed. Our energy and enterprise 
fail us. We feel ourselves heavy and inert 
masses. All inspiration disappears. Our 
Strength of Will seems to have left us. 
We begin first to fear that we shall be 
defeated, then we anticipate and count on 
defeat, and finally set ourselves to await 
it. We feel we can't struggle on any more, 
that we must give up, that failure is inevi- 
table — and then, giving way to discourage- 
ment, we throw up the sponge. 

What a contrast there is between the 
two spirits! The Will to Win, and Dis- 
couragement. The first spells success, the 



THE WILL TO WIN 65 

second failure. And yet neither spirit can 
prevail unless we deliberately cultivate it. 
Discouragement only becomes fatal when we 
wilfully cherish it and submit to it. The 
Will to Win only triumphs if we resolutely 
and deliberately cultivate and develop it. 
Each of the two spirits is intimately con- 
nected with the Will. The spirit of con- 
fidence and self-reliance, which I call the 
Will to Win is the Will active, full of life, 
emphatically asserting itself. Discourage- 
ment on the other hand is the negation of 
Will; it is, so to say, the Will effacing it- 
self and giving place to animal feeling and 
impulse. 

Whether we like to admit it or not there 
is for us, in our private lives, great danger 
at times of giving way to discouragement. 
Falls and failures, disappointments, suffer- 
ing, ill-health, unkindnesses, and betrayals 
will cross our path in life. Things that we 
feared, and that we hated to think of, will 
happen. Harsh and cruel things will be 
done to us. Sufferings long and bitter will 
be ours. All that we must expect and face, 
but we must face all in the right spirit. We 
must not give way to discouragement. It 
is no remedy for ill. It does no good. It 



66 THE WILL TO WIN 

makes things worse. We must face our 
trials with deep Christian resignation, we 
must take them from God's loving hands as 
gifts, and we must bear up under them with 
a splendid spirit of confidence, and a Will 
to Win through. 

I now offer a few suggestions, which you 
may find useful and helpful in dealing with 
this fatal, perhaps for us most fatal of evils, 
discouragement. 

(1) In doing Will-tasks deliberately culti- 

vate the feeling and spirit of confi- 
dence and self-reliance. 

(2) Prepare yourself beforehand for suffer- 

ing. Think well on what it means, 
its uses, how to make it help you 
onward and upward, and how to 
offer it cheerfully to God. Convince 
yourself that suffering and failure 
must come, and make up your mind 
how you are to bear them when they 
do come. Make failure play itself 
false. Make it a "stepping stone to 
higher things." 

(3) When suffering and failure have come 

upon you, hold on tenaciously to your 
good resolutions. If the first shock 
has caused you temporary discour- 



THE WILL TO WIN 67 

agement, try to shake it off as soon 
as possible. Remove its cause if you 
can. If it is a sin, get rid of it with- 
out delay. Regain as soon as you 
can your normal state of trust in 
God and joyful confidence. If it is 
physical pain and suffering, some ill- 
ness for instance, make yourself thank 
God for it and rejoice for it. I once 
asked an old Irishman, who was limp- 
ing along the road, how he got his 
rheumatism. He looked at me with 
some surprise and then answered 
rather sternly — "How does any- 
body get it.^ Didn't the good God 
give it to me — praise be to His Holy 
name." In that old man, I need not 
say, there was no discontent or dis- 
couragement. 
(4) Keep alive within your heart a love for 
what is fair and good and great. Look 
round at the works of Nature; ob- 
serve and study a little the beauty 
of flowers, of mountains, and of the 
sea. Read good books and the stories 
of great men. Furnish your mind 
with the marvels of science. Open 
your heart to the call of great causes 



68 THE WILL TO WIN 

— the cause of the poor and oppressed 
above all. Take an interest in big 
problems and keep yourself aloof from 
the sordid and petty pursuits of evil 
doers. You will find, I think, that 
love of truth and beauty and great 
causes, will form a good and solid 
background for the spirit of Confi- 
dence and Self-reliance. 

And now, to conclude this booklet, let 
me remind you once again that the work of 
training and strengthening your Will is well 
within your power. You can make your 
Will very strong if you are prepared to sacri- 
fice yourself a little, and to perform patiently 
and perseveringly and in the proper spirit 
tasks such as I have suggested. It rests 
with you, and you alone, to decide whether 
or not you will do so. In this choice no 
power on earth can hamper your liberty. 
Choose then, and if you resolve to perfect 
your Will, and are faithful to your resolu- 
tion, your life will be truly great, and you 
will deserve well of your Church and of 
your country. "Choose the America that 
you think is best and fashion yourself in its 
likeness. If you wish to see America be- 



THE WILL TO WIN 69 

come a perfect country, a Kingdom of God, 
do yourself become a perfect individual, a 
Kingdom of God. The perfect country can 
only be established by individual men and 
women who are striving after perfection — 
perfection not only in an imaginary nation 
which is outside themselves but in the ac- 
tual nation which is within themselves, in 
their own brains and hearts and sinews, 
to mar or to make beautiful as they will." 



APPENDIX 

The following Sections A, B, C, are writ- 
ten with a view to helping those who have 
made up their minds to devote themselves 
lo Will-training. 

- (A) 

If the theory of Will-training is new to 
you, it will be well for you to think over and 
master the matter contained in this booklet. 
Try to understand it fully, so as to be able 
to explain it to others. Try in a small way 
to become a "specialist" in this matter and 
read over other books about the Will. For 
the present, get a good note-book, and at 
your leisure write out in order answers to 
the following questions: 

(1) What is the special work of the Will.? 
How does it differ from the work of the 
Intellect .f^ 

(2) What do you mean by ''Strong Will?'' 
What are the advantages of having a Strong 
Will.? 

(3) Does the Will need special training.? 

(4) What is a Resolution? What is the 
best way to ensure its fulfilment.? 

70 



APPENDIX 71 

(5) What is a Habit? How is an evil habit 
best overcome? 

(6) Explain the methods of Will-training 
suggested in this booklet. 

(7) What is the best type of exercise for 
the training of the Will? Give examples. 

(8) Explain the words, ''Effort;' '' Self- 
control ;' ''Perseverance " 

(9) What are the causes of and remedies 
for Discouragement? 

(10) What is "the Will to Win?" 

(B) 
It would be well next to write in your 
note-book your own reflections, or short es- 
says if you like, on such topics as the following: 

(1) The Influence of Men of Character. 

(2) My Ideal American. 

(3) The Secret of Success. 

(4) The Uses and Triumphs of Failure. 

(5) Temperance and National Prosperity. 

(6) "The Need of Training." 

(7) National Characteristics. 

(8) "Haec est victoria quae vincit mun- 
dum Fides Nostra." ("This is the victory 
which overcometh the world. Our Faith.") 

(9) "Strength of Will is better than 
Wealth or Learning." 



72 APPENDIX 

(10) Enterprise, Effort, and Self-control. 

(11) "Gladly I lived and gladly I die, 

And I lay me down with a Will." 

(12) "The only way to be a patriotic 
American is to do your best to become a 
perfect man." 

(C) 
Early in this booklet I spoke of your 
Ideal — as being that of a thorough Catholic 
and American — and I spoke of the necessity 
of "furnishing your mind." This work you 
can do for yourself in private, by reading 
and studying good books, better even than 
it can be done at school. You should set 
yourself then to build up your own little library 
of good books — many of them you can 
buy very cheaply — there are hundreds of 
excellent booklets published by the Catholic 
Truth Society of Ireland and England, by 
the "Action Populaire" of Rheims, by the 
" Volksverein " of Munchen-Gladbach, and 
by the Catholic publishers of America. 
Books on Social Action, Political Economy, 
Science, Art, History, and Religious Con- 
troversy by Catholic authors, together with 
Lives of great and good men should form 
an important part of your library. Study 
well the great problems of modern life, the 



APPENDIX 73 

various aspects of amending the struggle 
between the forces of good and evil, and 
strive to understand the sufferings of the 
poor and oppressed. Study well the glori- 
ous story of America and learn from it the 
splendid wisdom of putting Faith before Pros- 
perity, Virtue before Riches. If you love good 
hooks, and draw fruit from them, your mind 
will he hroadened, your Faith strengthened, your 
sense of right and justice rendered delicate and 
true, your mind will he admirahly furnished 
for life's work, and your Ideal will not he a 
false Ideal. 



FINIS 



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